by Linsey Hall
But this wasn’t good enough. I needed a distraction. I envisioned dozens of me, all running around inside the circle.
The first one appeared. Victor shot it with a sonic boom. The noise cracked in the air, making my eardrums ache, but the illusion of me was unaffected.
More illusions appeared until two dozen images of me ducked and weaved through the standing stones. Victor shot each one, roaring when the sonic booms did nothing.
Eventually, he’d hit the real me on a streak of luck. I had to act.
He was definitely trapped here without a transport charm and getting madder every second. He’d planned this for years, and I’d stopped him.
When his back was turned, I called upon my gift of lightning, sending a massive bolt right at his back. There was no way he’d turn in time to see it and block it.
He didn’t block it. The bolt, which was as wide as he was tall, slammed right into his back. He flew forward onto his front. I expected to see him smoking and dead, a black crisp of a man.
Instead, he leapt to his feet, his rage palpable on the air. It seeped from him like a black fog.
“I’m done playing!” he roared.
The black fog that seeped from him grew thicker, swirling around him. His skin turned an ashen gray and bulged, rippling with some unseen force.
What the hell?
His body began to grow, upward and outward. The gray fabric of his suit ripped and tore. His skin was fully gray now, turning to black. It cracked in places, revealing a bright red glow, like lava under the surface of rock. It took only seconds, but soon he was twenty feet tall and had turned entirely to stone.
My stomach dropped to my feet. He was made of stone. How could I kill stone? Was this the new gift he’d taken from the Stone of Power? It must be. What would he be if he’d gotten all the stone’s power?
He lumbered toward me, steam rising from the surface of his body as the rain hit the lava that seeped from between the cracks of rock.
My heart thundered so loud I swore he could probably hear it. Could he see me? A quick glance at my arms told me no. I was still invisible.
But he was upon me now, drawn by the sound of my heartbeat or some other kind of magic. I built up my lightning to hurl it at him, but his massive fist was too fast. It slammed into me, so big his hand made contact with my body from my legs to my head.
Blinding pain exploded through every inch of me.
I flew through the air, crashing into one of the statues. When I crumbled to the ground, I’d lost control of my illusion. I was visible again and could see my limbs, which looked twisted at odd angles. Breathing felt like being stabbed in the lungs with a million knives. I tried to sit, but I couldn’t. My whole body was pain. Broken, dozens of bones snapped. Multiple ribs piercing my lungs.
On the other side of the stone circle, Victor smashed the upright standing stones. He was entirely absorbed in his rage.
Pain seared through me. I couldn’t move. Not an inch.
Was this all over? Was I too broken to fight? Too destroyed to use my magic? What did I have that could defeat a man-made rock? There was probably a core of life in him somewhere, but I didn’t know how to extinguish it.
But I had to think of a way. For my parents, who Victor had killed. For Del, who’d sacrificed herself so that I could do this.
Unable to sit, I gazed up at the statue. It was the one representing magic. Representing me. I could just make out the statues of Del and Nix—Life and Death.
The Watcher’s words flashed in my mind. “A place from which you can draw power.”
The statues.
When we’d been here last, Del and Nix had said they could feel their magic in the statues. Life and Death.
I needed both of those, and I was a Mirror Mage, wasn’t I? Normally, mirroring the magic in a statue would be impossible. But nothing was normal here. I wasn’t normal. Not anymore. My body might be broken, but my magic wasn’t
And Nix and Del would help me, even though they weren’t here.
As Victor crushed the last of the standing stones on the other side of the circle, I reached out with my magic, stretching for the life in Nix’s statue. I needed just a bit—enough to heal myself so I’d live long enough to deploy Del’s gift.
When I grasped hold of the bright light of it, I nearly wept with relief as it flowed through me. My pain started to fade as Nix’s life-giving force poured into me.
When I had enough that I thought I could stand, I cut the connection. But I wasn’t stupid enough to get up and attract Victor’s attention. He was consumed with rage, stomping toward me, swatting at standing stones as he came.
But he was made of rock, and he was slow. I might have just enough time…
I reached out for the magic in Del’s statue, gasping when the cold touch of death flowed toward me. I couldn’t hold on to this magic—it would kill me. Only Del could really do that.
I had to shoot it at Victor, and fast.
I flung my hands out, directing a stream of Del’s deadly magic at Victor. It shot like a black bolt of lightning. Beneath it, the wet grass shriveled and died. When it slammed into Victor’s stone chest, he stopped dead in his tracks.
I couldn’t make out any expression on his stone face, but I imagined there was shock. The lava between his cracks of stone began to turn black, then crumbled to dust. It fell to the dead grass below his feet, a raining shower of disintegrated lava rock.
As the stones fell to the ground, one by one, I imagined Del in her last moments. My sister, my deirfiúr. Now, her power destroyed Victor. Without her, this wouldn’t have been possible. Nor without Nix, whose power had saved my life here and who had forced me to take Del’s power. Without my deirfiúr, I’d had no chance.
I funneled more of Del’s magic into Victor, letting Del’s power of death flow through me and into him. I held on to the memory of her as we finished Victor.
Finally, he collapsed into a pile of stone. The sickly scent of rot that followed his magic dissipated on the air.
The night grew silent.
On shaky legs, I climbed to my feet and stumbled over to the massive pile of rock. It sat on a bed of gray stone dust. I felt no magic in it, nor any life.
Victor was dead.
I left the Black Fort immediately, returning to Glencarrough just in time to see the black fog of Victor’s circle of power disappear. Bodies were strewn everywhere, and demons fled on foot. They must have felt their master’s death. The Shifters wouldn’t let them get far.
I had won, but I felt no sense of victory. The tears that had dried threatened to return, but I swallowed them back hard. I needed to find my friends. To find out… if anyone else had died.
I stepped around the great crevice. Golden light flowed from it, no longer turning black from Victor’s polluting touch. The melted Gundestrop cauldron still repressed my magic and everyone else’s. They’d have to tear that out. Dermot’s body lay nearby, torn to pieces.
The fire dragonet fluttered to hover in front of me. His brethren joined him—water, stone, and smoke—all flitting around me.
“Thanks, guys,” I said. “Or girls.”
They flew close enough to brush my shoulders, then turned and headed away, off to wherever they lived.
“Cass!” Aidan’s voice sounded through the din.
I turned to follow the voice. He ran toward me, blood streaming down his face and arms, his chest soaked with it. But at least he was walking.
A body slammed into mine from the side, wrapping slender arms around me.
Nix.
“You’re okay!” she cried. “You just left. You didn’t take me with you!”
“I wasn’t strong enough to take more than Victor.” I had also been so angry and distraught that I hadn’t stopped to think. I hugged her back. Hard. “He’s dead.”
She pulled back, tears streaming down her face and her eyes bright. But she looked almost…happy. “Del’s body disappeared.”
Shock, then hope
, flared in me. “What? How?”
“She turned blue, then poof, she was gone.”
“Holy shit. Only demons are supposed to disappear.”
“And Del.”
My mind raced. “This is good, right? It means she’s not truly dead.”
Nix nodded frantically. “I think so. I have to think so.”
Aidan stepped up behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist, leaning down to envelop me. I could feel his relief that I was okay. It flowed through me as well. I had Nix and Aidan.
I glanced around, catching sight of Connor and Claire. They, too, were covered in blood. Connor was sitting on the ground, a shirt pressed to his head. Emile was sitting on the steps, Ralph and Rufus on his shoulders. One of his arms hung at an odd angle, but at least he was upright.
In the far corner, I saw Corin and Alton, from the League of FireSouls. They looked beat to hell, but alive.
“What are the casualties?” I asked.
“Not sure,” Aidan said. “Several Shifters dead. They aren’t used to fighting in human form. Elenora is fine, relatively speaking. She’s vicious in any form.”
Mordaca and Aerdeca approached. Aerdeca’s white combat apparel was entirely soaked red with blood. I couldn’t make out any rips in the fabric. Her gaze was hard, her mind still clearly steeped in battle.
So the blood wasn’t hers. Demon blood. Go Aerdeca.
Mordaca was spotlessly clean, but her quiver was empty. I had no doubt that she had taken out a demon with every shot.
“You do know how to throw a party.” Mordaca’s voice was deadpan.
A weak grin tried and failed to pull at my mouth. Until Del was back—if Del came back—I didn’t think I’d be able to smile.
“Thank you for coming,” I said.
“We knew what was at stake,” Aerdeca said. “Did you kill him?”
I nodded sharply, thinking of the pile of stone back at the Black Fort. I’d be going back there and dumping it all into the sea. “He is dead.”
“Good.” They nodded and departed. Not much for conversation, those two. But I was grateful for their help.
Corin approached, her short blonde hair flecked with blood. The sword that hung loosely at her side was coated as well, though it was hard to tell if there was any on her red armor.
“Is it over?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “How are your people?”
“Our numbers are accounted for,” she said. “There are some ghastly wounds, but we’ve trained long and hard with weapons. We’ll all survive.”
I nodded, relieved but unsurprised. FireSouls often became handy with weapons since we didn’t want to use our magic and possibly reveal our signatures.
“Thank you for the help,” I said.
She nodded, then departed. I was thankful. I couldn’t bear to make small talk right now. Not with the question of Del still looming. My chest felt empty. Nix looked like she was about to fall over.
I turned to Aidan, about to request that we leave, when Elenora approached. Her dress was torn, and she was spotted with blood.
Irritation and the beginning of anger seethed in my chest. I wanted to blame her for Del’s death. If she’d believed me when I’d first come to her, maybe all this wouldn’t have happened.
It is fated.
Aethelred’s words echoed in my mind. I shoved the voice, and my irritation, aside.
“Is Amara all right?” I asked before Elenora could speak.
“Yes. She’s in the castle with the other children. The demons didn’t reach them.”
Relief made my shoulder muscles relax just slightly. Thank magic. Something to be happy about.
Elenora handed me a leather bag that I hadn’t noticed her carrying.
“These are yours,” she said.
I took the bag and peered inside. The twin obsidian daggers they’d taken from me. I didn’t bother thanking her, just met her gaze.
“You’ve destroyed him?” Elenora asked.
“Yes. You believe me now?”
She nodded sharply. “I do. We should have taken the threat more seriously, but his parents were killed so long ago.” She turned and gestured to the crack in the ground. “And the Stone of Power. It’s been millennia since anyone has seen it. It’d become a myth to us. Not truly real, anyway.”
“The Alpha Council was complacent in their power,” Aidan said. “You spent too much time on the trappings of government and the appearance of strength.”
I thought of their grand entryway and Council room, the priceless works of art. The round table and bureaucracy. Aidan was right. They’d lost sight of what really mattered.
Elenora inclined her head. “You are right, Origin. We must reassess.” Her gaze met mine. “But in the meantime, you are pardoned. The Alpha Council will not interfere in your life or report you to the Order of the Magica for being a FireSoul. They will all be sworn to silence about what you are.”
“They’d better be,” I snapped. I didn’t have the patience to be grateful. Once upon a time, a pardon from the Alpha Council would have meant the world to me.
Now, it was my due. They owed me this after what I’d sacrificed. After what Del had sacrificed.
Elenora didn’t look at Nix, and if she knew Nix was a FireSoul, she didn’t say. Nix was safe, though. None of the FireSouls who’d been here today faced any threat from the Alpha Council.
We were safe. Whatever that meant.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The next evening, Nix and I sat on the floor of my trove, drinking PBR and staring blindly at my treasures. There was so much hope and fear in the room that it was hard to fit words in, too.
After the fight, we’d flown back to Magic’s Bend on Aidan’s jet and immediately gone to see Aethelred, who’d done his seer thing for us. For free, since he’d felt so badly about Del.
“So you believe him?” Nix asked.
“Yeah.” I took a sip of the beer, thinking about Aethelred’s prophecy that Del would return. “He was right the first time. And seers are always right.”
We knew that fact; it was just hard to believe because we’d seen her take her last breath. And we wanted it to be true so badly. We needed her to be all right.
“I have to believe him,” Nix said. “Otherwise, I don’t think I can keep going. It’s like there’s a giant rock lodged in my chest.”
“She’ll be back,” I said. And I believed it, too. This was all fated. And Del didn’t feel dead. I’d know it if she were truly gone.
She wasn’t.
“So that means we succeeded,” Nix said.
“I think so.”
Victor was gone. The Chalice of Youth was safe in the Museum of Magical History. The Shifters had the HeartStone back and were repairing the damage to the cavern that protected the Stone of Power. Whatever evil he’d tried to set loose on the world was stopped.
Knowing that Victor was dead felt like a million pounds had been lifted off my shoulders. There was no more Monster stalking us.
I leaned against Nix, letting her warmth flow into me and relax the rest of my muscles.
We were safe. For the first time in our lives, we were safe.
It didn’t take long for Nix and me to get sick of sitting on my trove floor. Without Del, it just wasn’t the same. So we’d polished off our beers and headed down to Potions & Pastilles.
On the plane ride home, I’d healed everyone’s wounds by mirroring Aidan’s healing gift. Connor wasn’t opening up the bar to the public for the night, but he’d said we could come by. Aidan was at his place, getting cleaned up, so I’d texted him to let him know where we were.
The sun was setting as Nix and I walked down the street to P & P, sending a warm orange glow over the city street and the park to our right. As usual, there was no traffic in this part of town, so it was just me and Nix. It was weird to be walking without Del, but she’d be back. I kept repeating it to myself. It was true. I just had to believe it.
When we reached P & P, the
glow from the hanging lights shined out the windows and welcomed us. There was a Closed sign on the door, which I ignored as I pushed it open and headed inside, and was enveloped by the scent of coffee and whisky. It went together well.
Connor grinned from behind the bar where he was mixing something in a glass.
“I’m experimenting here,” he said.
“Excellent,” I said. “Can’t wait to try it.”
We joined him at the bar, taking stools right in front of his mixing station. Whatever was in the glass looked like warm amber fire.
He popped a cherry in it and pushed it toward me. “Give it a try.”
I nodded and took a sip, wincing slightly at the burn. It was no PBR, that was for sure, but the aftertaste was good. The second sip went down easier.
“I like it,” I said as Claire pushed through the kitchen door into the bar area.
She held a platter with a big chocolate cake and grinned when she saw us. “Just in time! We have cake.”
“Cake and whiskey?” Nix asked. “Sounds good to me.”
We ate and drank, always conscious of Del’s missing presence, but I was determined to cherish what I had. When Aidan entered the bar, I could feel him before he even spoke. I spun around on my barstool to see him walking through the door.
I hopped off the stool and met him near the door, then pushed him out into the street. The sun had just set, but the night glowed with a soft warmth that felt like a hug.
As the door swung shut behind us, I leaned up to kiss him. He bent down to meet me, pressing his warm lips to mine. I savored the touch, then pulled away.
“You look better,” I said. Now that he’d washed the blood out of his hair and put on fresh clothes, it looked like he hadn’t been in a fight to the death at all.
“So do you,” he said. “Aethelred had good news?”
“Yeah.” I glanced through the window at my friends, and gratitude hit me for all that I had. Sadness and fear for Del lurked just below the surface, but I refused to embrace it.
I met Aidan’s gaze, my heart swelling with how much he meant to me. “Remember how you said you loved me?”
“I do.” His gaze was serious.
